SPOA (Single Point of Access)

Alexandra Huntington-Ofner

Mental Health Department

Physical Address7 Clayton AvenueCortland, NY13045

Phone: 607-758-6100

Fax: 607-758-6116

SPOA was created for the purpose of assisting in identifying high-need, at-risk children and youth, while developing strategies for services in order to maintaining them in their community and to develop a system responsiveness to the needs of families. SPOA accesses the strengths, and needs of the referred youth, provides parental assistance and addresses the youth’s past and present services and supports. The completed SPOA process subsequently leads to linking youth to the most appropriate services.

The purpose of SPOA is to:

Identify children with the highest risk for placement

Develop strategies to support these children and families in their home using an individualized and strength-based approach.

Work across multiple child serving systems

Develop better decision about individual’s care planning for children at risk.

Support communities to manage access to intensive services.

Who we work with:

Youth between the ages of 5-21

Youth that have been diagnosed with a mental health condition

The Process:

Complete SPOA form and fax or mail to Mental Health

A SPOA parent partner will reach out to the family to perform a needs assessment called the CANS – Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths.

The parent picks which meeting time is most convenient- typically

Either the first Tuesday of the month

Or the 4th Wednesday.

The SPOA committee meets and decides with the parent input what services the family might be eligible for.

Adult services also available:

We can pull together meetings to problem solve when individuals run into challenges in accessing services.

We collaborate with community partners to help ensure that individuals have timely access to services.